My Journey to Vegan – One Month

Today’s marks a month of what I consume and what I feel in my heart speaking the same language – and there’s no looking back ❤

Someone shared this video with me, and it inspired me to want to write and also share the video with you. So, just a quick update – going vegan was ridiculously easy… please let me explain.

I have dieted, fasted, carb loaded, juiced, counted points, Zoned, South Beached – you name it, I’ve tried it. My whole life I have either been on a diet or was about to start a diet. They all worked, then didn’t. Lasted, then ended. Helped, then hurt. And fucking hell, the roller coaster is exhausting. The self shame in slipping is grueling, and each meal and in between is a chore. I tell you this because I want when I explain this next part for you to understand – I KNOW DIETS FUCKING SUCK AND I SUCK AT THEM. So when I say something was easy – I aint lyin’.

Going vegan has been so unbelievably easy, to the point where even I’m confused. Why when I just gave up dairy, or just gave up gluten I couldn’t keep it going… but when I give up 99% of what I know all the sudden it becomes easy as vegan pie? I’ll tell you why – knowledge. Once you know, you can’t un-know.

The same person who shared this video with me – said something to me about a week into me eating vegan that has stuck with me for this first month. She said, “I never in a million years thought you wanted to do it.” She didn’t mean she didn’t think I could do it – she meant she didn’t think I wanted to open my eyes… and to be honest, I DIDN’T want to open my eyes! I stupidly, and thankfully, watched a movie… that will forever change my life. And after a month of eating guilt free, I understand her now more than ever… it is easy to be vegan, and it is fucking hard to be vegan… makes sense right?

To repeat – once you know, you can’t un-know. I can’t see my boyfriend drink a glass of milk without thinking of the poor cow who was unwillingly impregnated and then ripped away from her child so he could drink that glass. I can’t watch my friends grill burgers without wondering how many slaughtered cows are literally in just one patty (yeah exactly, one burger does not mean one cow… which when you think about it, duh, but I never consciously made that connection before). I can’t sit at a restaurant and watch friends order salad with chicken breast on top without seeing the poor birds packed on top of each other, going INSANE, waiting for death, without picturing the images of the chicken factories chopping the heads, beaks, wings and legs off of ALIVE birds, while throwing unwanted male chicks away. And lastly, eggs. The thing I thought I could NEVER EVER in a million years give up – the thought now of waking up early to have a nice chicken period… well, I can’t say it sounds appetizing anymore.

So that’s the hard part – it’s watching people I respect continue to kill, slaughter, torture and eat innocent, I’m going to say it, victims. You try and talk about it – you try and open eyes, or simply just share – and you’re met with can’ts, wont’s, and never’s. I don’t want to go on and on about the battles, disagreements, or ridicule you’re met with after going vegan – but what i will say, is it’s heart breaking. I feel like I’ve been given this piece of information that can really help you, the people I love, and it can change the world and make it a better place, and you are just on the other side of the door… I hold this key, and I so desperately want you to take the key and open the door… but you refuse. It’s really fucking hard not being able to un-know

.

But let me tell you about the easy part. It’s easy not to want to eat meat. When I was dieting – those little cravings of, “oh I’ll just have a little bite” or “ugh I can’t wait until this diet is over so I can have that again”, those feelings are gone. Because once you know what you’re craving – the whole craving goes away… Because, once you know, you can’t un-know.